A recent ruling in the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuitheld that the SEC’s imposition of a collateral bar on a defendant whose violations pre-dated the Dodd-Frank Act’s July 22, 2010 effective date was impermissibly retroactive. The bar prohibited the defendant, who was associated only with a broker-dealer at the time of his securities law violations, from association with investment advisers, municipal securities dealers, transfer agents, municipal advisors, and nationally recognized statistical rating organizations. The SEC said it will not appeal the court’s decision and issued a statement calling on potential subjects of such collateral bars to request that the SEC issue an order vacating the bars.